2 Introduction | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

Table of Content

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3

About us ........................................................................................................................................................ 5

What is No Code ........................................................................................................................................... 6

How to choose the right platform ................................................................................................................ 7

No Code skills to succeed ............................................................................................................................ 11

How to embed no code in your organization ............................................................................................. 14

Next step ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | Introduction 3

Introduction

Since its inception in 1990, few things have developed faster than the World Wide Web. The

impact of the internet on business, society and the life of the individual, both positive and

negative, is tremendous. By the continuous interconnectivity and integration of IT systems,

more information is created and aggregated every day.

Technology is more accessible, more intuitive and cheaper. However, businesses still need IT

specialists to create and deliver new applications. With the emergence of No Code platforms,

this dependency is less and less a burden to an organization.

The rapid advancement of No Code platforms requires that the most essential component in

any system development, the human, also comprehends, adapts to and anticipates the new

potential. With this, inevitable questions arise.

Understanding the impact of new technology is no longer a matter for technically minded

people only. Every business owner, process manager or project leader should answer the root

question: “What does this mean for me and my business”?

This whitepaper is about No Code platforms. With No Code Platforms, one can easily develop

full scale business applications without programming. It has started a new revolution in the

industry of application development. The next chapters will go more into detail and explains

the advantages and disadvantages.

With this whitepaper, we aim to answer what No Code platforms can mean to you. You are

probably reading this whitepaper because you have several questions in your mind.

For example, if you are a manager you might want to know more about these subjects:

• I want my business to move to the cloud, is No Code a solution for this?

• I want my business to be able to develop its own applications

• Excel is no longer fitting for my business. What can I do?

• I no longer want to maintain an IT department for the sake of having one

• I am seeking to transfer my IT Capex (capital expenditures) to Opex (operational

expenditures)

• I no longer want to be locked in with IT suppliers and seek independence

4 Introduction | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

A Business Analyst / Information Analyst would be seeking for new ways to:

• Prototype the new business case and validate it instantly

• Go beyond the analysis and offer a working application as a solution

• Empower an organization to conduct business in a better way

• Migrate data in cases where regular off-the-shelf tools do not suffice

The IT developer, familiar with more traditional ways of software development might have

these questions in mind:

• Is the No Code revolution a career threat for me as developer?

• What skills are required for me to be able to become a No Code consultant?

We aim to answer many of these questions and give you a practical step-by-step guideline for

making the right decisions for your particular situation.

First, we will discuss what a No Code platform is. The No Code industry is rapidly expanding

with many suppliers using and perhaps also misusing the term No Code. Clear definitions and

understanding are essential.

Then, we will discuss how to choose the right No Code platform. We help you to clarify first

what you want to achieve from a business perspective and then delve into the details. The

technical side is only one of the many aspects to be considered.

Subsequently, we disclose the skills people in your organization should have to successfully

work with No Code platform. Working with No Code platforms requires vastly different skills in

juxtaposition to traditional programming.

Lastly, we elaborate on how to effectively embed No Code into your organization. We answer

what is required from an organization and culture point of view to really leverage the power of

No Code platforms.

With the above, we believe you will be equipped with the essential information to make the

right decision for your business.

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | About us 5

About us

This whitepaper is written by Christof van der Heide and Bertil Schaart. Christof is founder of

The No Code Way (https://thenocodeway.com), the largest No Code MeetUp community in

The Netherlands. Bertil Schaart is founder of Webbit21 (https://webbit21.com), a Netherlands

based network organization of independent No Code IT and business professionals.

We see the tremendous potential and positive impact No Code platforms can have on business

and society. With this whitepaper we hope we can accelerate your decision making in whether

No Code is suitable for your organization and how to best approach it. We hope you enjoy

reading it and invite you to contact us with feedback. Also, feel free to contact us if you would

like to talk in more depth about the viability of No Code platform for your organization.

Bertil Schaart

Christof van der Heide

6 What is No Code? | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

What is No Code?

No Code versus Low Code

Why is there a distinction between No Code and Low Code platforms? We asked ourselves the

same question as it was not very clear to us either. Is it a marketing thing, is it some kind of

religion, and is there a major difference?

No code implies that there is absolutely no programming involved. You can compare this with

assembling standard LEGO blocks to create an application or mobile app. Like with LEGO you

are dependent on the available blocks and your own creativity to create something awesome.

But you are also limited to the available blocks. If the block provided do not do what you want

you can be stuck.

Low code implies that there is still some programming involved. The way we see it is that these

platforms provide you also with standard LEGO blocks but with the possibility to create new

LEGO blocks or determine what a programmable block, like in LEGO Mindstorms, can do

yourself.

What is better you ask? As with many things it depends on what you want to do and whether it

fits with the app you want to create. And how much you can compromise if functionality does

not exist (yet…).

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | How to choose the right platform? 7

How to choose the right platform?

When selecting a No Code platform there are several topics to consider. Some are easy to

assess and others are more difficult as those require experience with the platform.

1. Mobile App, Web Application or both

Not all platforms have the same capabilities. There are platforms that are well suited for

creating Mobile Apps but that do not allow you to create web applications (and vice versa). If

both options are provided there may be limitations as well.

When you start with the selection of your platform this is one of the first things to determine. If

you only want to create a web application or a mobile app then probably a focused platform

might provide advantages, otherwise it is best to start with a broad platform that can support

both. It might also mean that when you change your mind later you could be facing a platform

switch or the need to select a second platform.

For Mobile Apps take special consideration to the Mobile Operating Systems supported,

whether it is easy to publish to an App Store and if needed that the App can be used offline. For

Web Applications you cannot live without responsive functionality to make the web application

work well on all types of devices.

2. Functionality and roadmap

After you have determined the type of app / application you want to create with a platform,

you should look into the functionality provided. Does it provide all the building blocks that you

need now and in the future? Does it provide you with an intuitive modeling environment to

quickly develop and test your app / application?

If there is functionality that you feel is missing, is there a published roadmap? If there is a

roadmap, does the provider deliver on the promise? Another aspect to look into how the

roadmap is determined. Is it based on customers’ / users’ needs or is it based on an internal

process that is not transparent to you?

3. Getting up to speed

Although No Code platforms claim that you can create apps / applications in a short amount of

time (some claim minutes) you should also look into how easy it is to gain more knowledge

about all possibilities of the platform.

8 How to choose the right platform? | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

Is there a large and active community to which you can reach out? Are newbies also supported

or is it mostly for the ‘veteran’ user? Is the community facilitated well by the platform provider?

Are there educational resources available to you? Are these available on demand or do you

need to attend a class? Are these free or is there a cost involved? How extensive is the

documentation with the platform? At a minimum all the mainstream functions and features

have to be described at ‘dummies’ level.

4. Integrations

For many apps / applications you probably want to use one or more data sources or your

application might become a source of truth itself. This requires that a platform has integration

capabilities for inbound and outbound integrations. Topics you should look into are the

support for standards, like SOAP, REST and OData, the possibilities to secure connecting to /

from your application.

This can quite quickly become too technical for a ‘citizen developer’ so you should get some

support from technical consultant to assess if it is quick and easy to setup or requires

development work every time an integration has to be setup or changed.

5. Infrastructure

For delivering your app/application you need to have the possibility to test it. Does the platform

provide you with development, test and production environments, preferably in the cloud? Is

it easy to deploy your app/application to different environments, especially when you want to

do frequent updates?

Or do you want to setup all the infrastructure yourself? Is this made easy for you? For example,

with deployments to standard cloud providers like AWS, MS Azure or Google or container

platforms such as Docker.

For Mobile Apps it is also prudent to look at the ease of publishing an app into the Apple App

Store or the Google Play Store or to your enterprises App Store.

6. Compliance & Security

In the news there are regularly security and compliance incidents. The platform must be secure

and you have to be able to trust it. Look into what kind of security certifications and measures

the platform provider has put in place especially when you use a platforms own infrastructure.

For compliance reason you may be restricted with respect to the storage location of the data.

This could lead to instant disqualification if data is stored in the wrong location.

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | How to choose the right platform? 9

Also look at the security features for the app / application itself. Can it be setup to authenticate

and authorize users? Can it be connected to your own Identity Provider? Can you setup multi-

factor authentication? Can you encrypt the data in the app / application? Is it possible to setup

your own certificates for SSL / TLS?

7. Costs

Using a platform costs money, otherwise the platform provider may not be around for long.

Have a good look at the pricing model of the platform providers, as there are many different

models.

Some charge per event, some charge a fixed amount per user or for a certain capacity usage,

some charge for the functionality used, some for the amount of apps/applications deployed,

some for the devices supported, etc.

You should also look into the expected usage of the platform over time. The cost of the

modeling tool is often low or even free, but what are the costs when your users really start

using the app/application? Is the cost also attractive when the usage increases? Especially if it

is user or event based your costs can go through the roof quickly.

Furthermore, you need to look into what type of model fits your organization. How much

predictability do you need? And also, how are the prices developing over time. Significant price

increases have happened without much consideration of existing customers.

8. The company

A platform will only be as good as the people building and maintaining the platform. The

company needs to have an active support organization and a sizeable development team that

is setup for receiving and handling issues and questions. You don’t want to keep your users

waiting, because the developer that has the knowledge is enjoying a holiday.

The type of customers the platform provider is focusing on can also determine if the

development of the platform is going in a direction that you would like. For example, if a

provider focuses on large enterprises and you are not one of their target customers, the

provider’s long-term vision and roadmap might not fit with what you need.

The provider should be loyal to its customers. If a provider does not treat its initial/launching

customers well, how will they treat you as a new customer? Do the initial customers still

recommend the platform or have they left?

10 How to choose the right platform? | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

Assuming the platform provider is successful then they probably will not be able to support

everyone themselves or provide skilled consultants to everyone. How scalable is the support

from the company when you need consultancy? Are there any partners that are easy to work

with?

Another thing to look for is the company’s financial stability. Typically, there is a long road

ahead for a platform and they are fighting for market share. This means they need to have deep

pockets to achieve a significant growth. And if the company does not make it, it is important to

understand what will happen to the platform. For example, is the software and/or the

infrastructure secured via an independent organization or Escrow arrangements?

9. Exit strategy

Not all No Code platforms are likely to survive for many years. Also new companies might move

into this market space that have something you really need. Although it can be easy to recreate

your application or app in a new platform, if you cannot get your data and documents out of a

platform then you would also have to recreate the data or documents. You may also have

unhappy users due to down time or loss of data or documents or a significant period without

new functionality because you are busy recreating your app / application.

So make sure you can get your data and documents out of the platform again. Establish how

and how much effort it takes. If you cannot get it out easily what are your options?

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | No Code skills to succeed 11

No Code skills to succeed

Imagine you have 10 hours to get to your destination. You can only make 3 stops. Upon arrival

you realize that you have reached the destination in only 8 hours. On top of that, you only

made 2 stops. This is a fantastic result and congratulations are due. However, you arrived in

Paris, while your destination was Berlin. Are we still talking about success here?

This is an analogy for the situation which many companies seem to revisit time and time again.

By solely looking at the costs and processes, the actual objective is being forgotten.

Furthermore, no time is spent validating if the project is actually delivering the intended

business value add.

The above scenario is commonplace in IT application development and it also applies to

development done with No Code platforms. There is a big difference however. With No Code,

the speed of delivery is significantly increased. A factor of 5 up to 10 times faster application

development is not uncommon with No Code.

This difference is crucial and it has more positive potential impact than one might think. First of

all, let’s revisit the classic cartoon of software development. Even if you haven’t seen it before,

most likely you will have experienced projects like this.

12 No Code skills to succeed | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

The more people are added to a project, the more coordination and communication is needed.

Subsequently, the project increases its risk for situations depicted above.

If No Code platforms were just about increased speed of delivery, the above cartoon would still

apply. All involved parties would just reach their frustration a lot faster. However, No Code

platforms allow less people to be involved.

The No Code practitioner can, and preferable should, take up several roles. A good No Code

practitioner is a business consultant, pre-sales advisor, analyst, tester, developer, application

manager and project leader at the same time.

Since the platform allows to achieve the solution with no limited technical knowledge.

Therefore, one person can take up several or all of these roles. This is where the true power of

a No Code platform comes to light. Less people are able to achieve faster and better results.

This does demand that the project is run by adequately trained and skilled No Code

practitioners.

No Code Skill set

Based on our experiences, we have crafted a general outline of skills and work experiences,

independent of skills required by a specific No Code platform. We aimed to keep this list as

evergreen as possible, but we have to admit that this is virtually impossible with the rapid surge

of new No Code platforms.

1. Attitude and mindset

• Pro-active

• Able to adapt to changing business requirements

• Sense maker

• Analytical skills

• Curious

• Team player who can also work independently

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | No Code skills to succeed 13

2. Client Skills

• Excellent communication and social skills

• Ownership of entire solution, not just the technical implementation

• Understands the customer journey

• Is a business partner for the organization and able to anticipate future opportunities

• Able to add value by translating organizational needs into viable business solutions

• Courage to propose an alternative better solution and guide client towards it

3. Education and experience

• Minimal Bachelor level degree or equivalent with preferable an IT or business administration component

• Business or consulting experience

• Experience in business process modeling

14 How to embed no code in your organization | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

How to embed no code in your organization

The previous chapter focused on the required personal skills of individuals developing directly

with No Code platforms. However, for successful No Code adaptation, your organization will

probably need to change as well. Fortunately, instead of lengthy reorganization processes, No

Code adaptation suffices with a new mindset.

For instance, IT development has the potential to go a lot faster. However, No Code does not

change the complexity of the business itself. Many times, we have seen organizations making

the mistake, assuming that No Code “solves everything”. That is not true. Simply put, No Code is

merely a very fast way of creating applications without the need of technical skills. However, in

order to achieve this speed increase, and maintain quality and results, the process of

development should be revisited.

No Code platforms allow for an integrative and cooperative way of development. The

discussion transitions from technology to business. This necessitates the direct involvement of

business owners or business process owners. With traditional development, the business

described the requirements of a new app, which subsequently was built by developers.

Now, the business (process) owner and No Code practitioner can sit together and jointly create

the new solution. Business cases that had not been thought of before, arise during the

cooperation and can be implemented instantly.

This teamwork requires that the business (process) owner understands the basics of No Code

development and that the No Code practitioner has great (internal) customer engagement

skills.

Watch-outs and roadblocks

Despite the significant benefits of No Code platforms, we have experienced the struggles that

companies face in embracing the new technology. We listed the most frequently encountered

ones here but do note that specific companies might face specific roadblocks.

1. Management needs to be convinced

No Code platform transition the IT cost structure from capital expenditure (CAPEX) to

operational expenditure (OPEX). In simple terms, a company no longer pays for having and

maintaining an IT department and IT infrastructure (CAPEX) but pays for the use of IT (OPEX);

the more you use, the more you pay.

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | How to embed no code in your organization 15

When taking into account the significantly increased go-to-market speed with No Code

platforms, app development can contribute considerably to the bottom-line. However, in order

to assess the return on investment of No Code adaptation, the OPEX need to be clear. The

licensing models of No Code platforms are not always that clear or transparent, making a good

ROI calculation difficult.

2. (Corporate) IT needs to be convinced

We have seen opposition from incumbent IT people. Some see No Code platforms as a threat.

We believe the contrary. No Code platforms are a great opportunity for corporate IT people,

but it needs to be positioned and embraced as such by management.

An effective way to cope with the above and introduce No Code platforms is to implement it

non-invasively. That means, create an application that augments the current application

portfolio. This way, the benefits of a No Code app can be shown without needing to compare it

with the existing corporate software. No Code applications and incumbent application can

peacefully co-exist.

3. No Code practitioner is a new job function

Although programming is no longer needed, that doesn’t mean it is something that “can be

done on the side”. No Code practitioners should get proper training, have lengthy experience

and be able to dedicate themselves to No Code. This is essential for successful adaptation. We

have seen many introductions of No Code platforms fail for this very reason. We have seen

instances where traditional programmers received only an introduction training in No Code.

Subsequently, they failed to realize the project, because they tried to implement No Code in

the traditional way.

If the company does not have the resources, it can hire external No Code consultants.

Frequently we recommend a hybrid approach, whereby an external No Code practitioner starts

the project and the employee(s) learn and get training simultaneously. During this period, the

company can make a good assessment and ROI analysis of whether to continue to hire external

personnel (OPEX) or train people internally (CAPEX).

16 How to embed no code in your organization | Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide

4. Can the business cope with this speed?

This might come as a surprise. Many people have negative experiences where the IT

development lagged and missed the business deadlines. In contrast, No Code development can

be up to 5-10 times faster and this puts the ball back in the court of business. We experienced

that sometimes No Code applications are being delayed because the business or process owner

needs to make a decision.

4. Fitting it into the existing application landscape

We identify two typical approaches of integrating No Code into the existing architecture. The

first one is stand alone, without any integration with other systems. This is particular useful in

case of green field business development or business prototyping.

The other approach is to develop a clear strategy for roles and implementation of the No Code

platform and how to integrate with the existing landscape.

Bertil Schaart and Christof van der Heide | Next step 17

Next step

We hope to have given you ample insights and guidelines to help you make the right decision

for your organization. We can only recommend you do your homework and, most importantly,

since No Code is a journey, take the first step. The No Code revolution is only just commencing

and just as with any other new business development, speed is key.

Finally, the last recommendation we would like to give you is perfectly stated in the following

quote:

"When setting out on a journey,

do not seek advice from those who have never left home."

Rumi (Persian Poet)

Do not hesitate to contact us for a complimentary conversation about No Code platforms and

your organization.

Bertil Schaart

bertil@webbit21.com

Christof van der Heide

christof@thenocodeway.com

Credits:

Business photo created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com